Archives for November 2013

This past week the Red Sox won their eighth World Series championship after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in six games, while the Rakuten Golden Eagles won their first Japan Series title after beating the Yomiuri Giants in seven games. Boston’s right fielder Shane Victorino earned his second ring — his first came with the […]

With the cutting of a red, white and blue ribbon, the National Japanese American Historical Society reached a major milestone 20 years in the making. The Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center officially opened its doors to the public Nov. 11 on Veteran’s Day. Building 640, located next to Crissy Field in San Francisco’s Presidio, […]

Unless you consider yourself that dust particle that just got sucked into the Dyson, only astronauts who are in space live in a vacuum. And even in that case, you’re not living in a vacuum, you’re simply living in a vacuum cleaner. A true vacuum is when the atmospheric pressure is actually at zero and […]

SAN JOSE (Bay City News Service) — Former Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa was sentenced Nov. 8 to a year in county jail and three years of probation for a dozen criminal charges related to his misuse of public and campaign funds. Shirakawa, 51, dressed in a dark pinstriped suit, was led out of […]

TOKYO — With the controversial base relocation in Okinawa and other high-stakes issues testing the resilience of Japan-U.S. relations, people in Japan are looking to new U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy for not just her celebrity status but also her potential to become a new bridge between the two allies. Still her untested credentials as the […]

MANILA (Kyodo) — The confirmed death toll from Typhoon Haiyan that struck the central Philippines on Nov. 8 rose to 4,011 on Nov. 20 as officials updated the scale of the tragedy caused by one of the biggest storms ever to hit land, the country’s disaster agency said. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management […]

AKUTAGAWA, MELVYN H., 71, (1941 — 2013) was born in San Francisco. He graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School and attended San Francisco State College in the ‘70s. Later, he graduated with honors from Palomar Community College. As a merchant seaman, he traveled the world. Mel had been in the United Food Commercial Workers Union since […]

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: This is the third of a four-part series. The long journey continued with rest stops every two hours as the bus traversed the Taurus Mountains until we finally reached the Mediterranean Coast. We stayed at the luxury Crowne Plaza Antalya hotel, but their WiFi is slow, the room was poorly cleaned […]

On a brisk November afternoon, the first Nichi Bei Foundation Author Series event was held in the courtyard of the Western Addition Branch Library near San Francisco’s Japantown, presenting two local authors reading from their recent publications. Hiroshi Kashiwagi, a well-known author, playwright, poet and actor, read from his latest work, “Starting From Loomis and […]

MOMITA, MARGARET CHIEKO, 99, resident of Davis, Calif., passed away on Oct. 30, at the age of 99 years. A native of San Francisco., Margie was one of three children born to Kyonosuke and Miyo Shigezumi. In 1938 Margie visited Japan to tour and meet distant relatives. She was later employed by the Chilean Consulate […]